Red Cross seeks disaster shelter volunteers ahead of Beryl's landfall

AUSTIN, Texas (KEYE) — Texans along the gulf coast are making their final preparations as Beryl is expected to make landfall Monday as a hurricane. The Red Cross is putting together an army of volunteers to help the storm victims bounce back.

Based on what they've seen Beryl do in Mexico and across the Caribbean in this past week, the Red Cross is expecting widespread need of their services across Texas after the hurricane hits.

“We all know Hurricane Beryl is coming so our hope is to get ahead of the game, and we already have over 350 volunteers stationed in San Antonio right now getting ready for Hurricane Beryl," saidDelia Krippelz, communications director for the Central Texas Red Cross.

On Saturday, the Central Texas Red Cross office was busy training their newest volunteers and recruiting even more. They'll a lot of people to help feed and shelter the storm victims and to help them just process what's happened.

When somebody goes through a disaster, it could probably be one of the worst days of their lives, so we have volunteers to be able to give them that mental health support that they need," saidKrippelz,

Not all the Red Cross volunteers are new. Ken Armstrong has volunteered for decades, with the last 10 years in Austin.

“I’ve also been on other deployments and other situations with the American Red Cross from Louisiana and across Texas, and I was at Katrina many years ago," said Armstrong.

Armstrong said any amount of time someone can offer the Red Cross as a volunteer will be greatly appreciated.

“You’re not judged if you can only give us four or five hours a week," said Armstrong. "We’ll work with you, train you. It doesn’t matter.”

Click here to learn more about volunteering with the Red Cross in central Texas.

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